China’s newspapers are very critical of Donald Trump for launching the trade war, accusing the US president of leading a ‘gang of hoodlums’.

Our Beijing bureau chief, Lily Kuo, reports:

“If what the US wants is to escalate a trade war with China, then so be it. A little fighting may be the only way the Trump administration clears its mind and allows everyone to sober up,” the state-run Global Times said on Friday.

“The Trump administration is behaving like a gang of hoodlums with its shakedown of other countries, particularly China,” said an English-language article in the China Daily. On Thursday, a spokesperson for China’s ministry of commerce said the US will be “opening fire on the whole world and also opening fire on itself.”

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The trade war between America and China has begun, as Donald Trump delivers on his threat to hit $34bn of Chinese imports with new 25% tariffs.

“34 [billion dollars], and then you have another 16 in two weeks and then as you know we have 200 billion in abeyance and then after the 200 billion we have 300 billion in abeyance. Ok? So we have 50 plus 200 plus almost 300.”